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Getting
Up: Contents Under Pressure

There
are a lot of games out there that try to tap into the whole teen angst
thing, but they almost always take place in far off, fantastical
worlds. You just don't see a whole lot of titles tackling the
topic in a contemporary setting. Perhaps Mark Ecko has been
thinking the same thing, as he has a new PlayStation 2 title in the
works where gamers are out to give the status quo a slap up side the
head through
graffiti art called Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure.

Getting
Up revolves around the slogan of “What if graffiti could change the
world?” where players are fighting authority and the Man.The game is going out of its way to represent a number of artists
in the field of graffiti, with over 50 tags at players’ disposal.On top of this,

it
won’t just be spray cans that gamers deal with here, as they can use
stickers, posters, and a number of other mediums to get their message
across over the game’s 20 levels.

The
real question, though, will be whether or not this will catch on.Jet Set Radio has tried this twice in North America, with its tag
spraying antics, and the whole thing never caught on.Granted, Getting Up has a far more Western-oriented vibe to it,
emulating the grittiness
of some of the neighborhoods one would find a lot of the finer graffiti
art in.Also, the game has
a number of brawler elements in it too, so

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players
will have to pound their way through their fair share of thugs to get to
some of the sweeter areas to start laying down their art.

It’s
still a few months until Getting Up hits the streets (bad pun ahoy!).However, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not Joe Gamer
takes a liking to the title when it comes out.

Mr.
Nash

(March
28, 2005)

Game
Features:

-
Hip-hop artist Talib Kweli as the voice for lead-character, Trane;

-
Storyline written by Marc Ecko poses the question “What if graffiti
could change the world?,” demonstrating the struggle against authority
while seeking to save a neighbourhood from an oppressive city government

-
Authentic tags from more than 50 actual graffiti artists from all over
the world - six of whom are characters in the game and will teach Trane
their specialties to add to his arsenal of graffiti tools

-
11 distinct metropolis-style environments of New Radius with 20 levels
to complete

-
Graffiti gameplay system designed to hone your skills as you get your
message up. New Radius is your canvas as you tag with Aerosol, Rollers,
Markers, Wheat Paste, Stickers and Stencils

-
Ability to use a variety of different graffiti tags, including stencils,
stickers, posters and throw-ups

-
Graffiti intuition system which allows Trane to locate ideal places to
tag within each environment

-
A digital “black book” to unlock new tags and abilities, and store
pictures and tags of graffiti legends Trane encounters along the way

-
Extremely responsive enemy A.I. mechanics

-
Lessons in graffiti evolution – watch Trane grow from “toy” to
“All City King” as his graffiti style and the state of graffiti in
New Radius evolve over the course of the game. Start in a 1980’s train
culture scene where subways were prime targets for gaining fame and
continue to an exaggerated version of the silver-train era when “Take
Back the City” was the city’s battle cry, and extreme use of
anti-graffiti tactics was rampant